Thursday, March 25, 2010

Bowling Puzzler IX: The striker's dilemma

On every leap day and on the third Monday of every fifth month, there is a bizarre competition at Laramie Lanes. Two bowlers face each other in a single game. The first bowler, Brett Striker, is incapable of picking up spares. Brett either strikes a frame or leaves it open. The second bowler, Cody Picksemup, is absolutely incapable of getting a strike, but given the opportunity to convert a spare, he always does so successfully. Under these conditions...

Well, MD I agree that the max possible score for Cody is 190, achieved with 10 instances of 9/ + 9. Sorry, EB, it's not 199. But it is possible to have 8 strikes and bowl a sub-100 game. We're not quite there yet.

And for your second question, EB, is the question if you mark every frame but one, what is the minimum possible score? I think the answer is 90. It would be achieved by gutter-ball spare on nine frames and two gutters on the 10th.

Hmm, I see my error in this bowling math: The formula is 9 x 9/ + 18... I had to write the damn thing out like I was scoring a game to see the obvious single 9's at each end. This is why you don't want me doing your taxes.

Do you have feedback? Questions? Comments?

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What is this?

This is the bowling blog for charismatic, astute, and discriminating bowlers. The BM Report began as a newsletter for a Laramie, Wyoming bowling team, the Bowl Movements. We are, by every measure, not particularly skilled at bowling. Mediocrity in bowling is not our goal, but sadly it is the state of our team. For three seasons, we found ourselves positioned in the lower half of the league standings. Last season, we barely crested the top half. Our Monday night venue is the Bernaski Memorial League at the Laramie Lanes. At this point, you might be asking yourself why a subpar bowling team in Laramie needs a blog. Like the great conundrums of philosophy (god, morality, epistemology, etc.), there is no good answer to this question.